JINGLE ON MY SON!

7.1.17

My father worked on ships.They spelked his hands, dusted his eyes, his face, his lungs.

Those eyes that watered by the Tynestared out to seato see the worldin a tear of water, at the dropof an old cloth cap.

For thirty weary wintershe graftedthrough the snow and the wild windsof loose change.

He was proud of those ships he built,he was proud of the men he built with,his dreams sailed with them:the hull was his skull,the cargo his brains.

His hopes rose and sunkin the shipwrecked streets of Wallsendand I look at him nowthis father of mine who worked on shipsand I feel proudof his skeletal frame, this coastlinethat moulded meand my own sweet dreams.

He sits in his retiring chair,dozing into the night.There are storms in his headand I wish him more love yet.

Sail with me,breathe in me,breathe that rough sea air old man,and cough it up.

Rage, rageagainst the dyingof this broken-backed town,the spiritof its broken-backedships.

Keith Armstrong

Allan Dennis Brockbank I always did like your poetry how you doing?

Mo Shevis Bought 'Imagined Corners' recently and was pleased to see this
poem there, having read it previously online. When I read it last week
at my poetry reading group it was very well received.! It is a powerful
piece Keith. We are all of an age to remember the old industries,proud
of our heritage and those who worked in them. Thankfully we have people
like you to record such images and memories for posterity.

Derek Young What a poem. So evocative of those days. I worked at Parsons
Marine Turbine Company as an apprentice marine engineer. My girl friend
was a trainee tracer at Swan Hunters.

Michael McNally Hi Keith,Thank you for sending this wonderful piece of work in my direction.

JANIS BLOWER

Thursday 26 June 2014

HAVE YOUR SAY
IT’S gratifying to see that on-line readers have taken an interest in one or two topics recently
One was that smashing poem, My Father Worked on Ships, by Keith
Armstrong, in which correspondent, Geordiman, reckons he recognised
himself in its depiction of an old shipyard hand.